A Restaurant in Shreveport [Wednesday night]
Sookie was still clutching the silver spray Eric had given her in her pocket, and the stake was solidly in her purse, right where she could feel it, as they got out of his car.
Her eyes scanned over the restaurant as they entered. It was a lot nicer than what she was ever used to, and she could feel not only her nervousness, but Bobby's in the back of her mind, coursing through the bond.
It started to allay as her eyes adjusted to the interior of the restaurant, and she watched the candles flickering on the tables, which were covered with snowy white cloths and elaborately folded napkins.
When the hostess led them to a table, Sookie's eyes came to rest on an older, elegant man seated before them.
The hostess spun on her high heel, touched the back of the chair to the man’s right to indicate Sookie should sit there, and told them their server would be with them. The man rose to pull out her chair and hold it for her. Sookie glanced back at Eric and Bobby before she sat. They didn't follow suit, and she couldn't quite hear the instructions Eric was murmuring to Bobby.
The man seated with her, though, was staring at her intently. He was thin and fairly pale, with long, fine, blond hair.
There was something strange and familiar about the man -- he was lovely and ethereal, but comforting, somehow, and while Sookie could still feel the bond, she found her focus resting on the man, and less on her boyfriend and the vampire who'd brought them there, as Eric and Bobby took seats at a nearby table.
Niall
"Child," he said quietly, looking over at her to get her attention, before gingerly pushing back his long, golden hair.
His ears were pointed.
Sookie
Sookie didn't want to stare, but she couldn't help it. She didn't know that there were people with pointed ears in her world. Or that they'd want to speak with her.
Although. There was something very, very familiar about him, though she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Wow," she breathed softly, which seemed to be all he wanted -- recognition that she saw, and understood he was not human.
Niall
"My name," he said, his voice light, sexless, resonant, "is Niall Brigant." He reached out to rest a hand on top of hers, light and cool. "Mr. Northman wanted me to speak to you this evening."
Sookie
Sookie gave him a slightly nervous little smile. She couldn't help the question that spilled out of her mouth next, because it wasn't meant to be rude. She could just tell he was important -- both in a general way, as well as important to her.
This man had answers. She could feel it.
"Who are you?"
Niall
"I’m your great-grandfather," Niall Brigant said.
Sookie
"Oh shit," Sookie gasped, and immediately covered her mouth with a hand. This was way, way more than she'd anticipated -- maybe more than she'd wanted, but she wasn't sure. "Sorry, I just -- great-grandpa?"
She was trying out the concept.
Niall
Niall's response was to wince delicately. On a human man, it might have looked effeminate. Somehow, it didn't on him.
Sookie
"Please explain," Sookie managed politely, as the waiter came to inquire after their drink orders and recite the specials of the day. Niall ordered a bottle of wine and told him they would have the salmon without consulting Sookie. High-handed.
Niall
"I'll tell you all about it," Niall said. Very slowly, telegraphing his intention, he leaned over to kiss Sookie's cheek. His mouth and eyes crinkled as his facial muscles moved to frame the kiss. The fine cobweb of wrinkles did not in any way detract from his beauty; he was like very old silk or a crackled painting by an ancient master.
"When I was still young, perhaps five or six hundred years ago, I used to wander among the humans," Niall said. "And every now and then, as a male will, I'd see a human woman I found appealing."
Sookie
"Wait," Sookie said, holding up a hand. This was a lot. "Five or six hundred years? Are you -- you're not a vampire."
She had noticed something odd as Niall spoke. No one in the room, save Eric and Bobby and their waiter, was paying any attention to them. No one was looking at them, and Sookie couldn't find a trace of them in anyone's thoughts, either.
Niall
Niall's lovely face registered the tiniest trace of surprise. "No. I am not. You don't know? No one's told you what you are?"
Sookie
"No," Sookie said, clearly frustrated. "No, they keep refusing to tell me. I don't know, and that's all I want."
Niall
Niall studied her for a moment before quietly offering. "Child, you're a fairy."
Sookie
She just stared at him, completely not registering what he'd said, for a long moment. The words hung in the air as she tried to wrap her mind around them.
"A what?" she finally asked, softly. "A fairy?"
In her head, she was thinking that, honestly, after all this buildup? It was kind of fucking lame.
Niall
Niall nodded. "I understand you visited our world recently."
Sookie
"That's where I was? Fairyland?" Sookie asked, ignoring the way her heart was pounding. "That's why they knew me. They know you."
Niall
He gave a slight nod, smiling faintly. "They've been watching for you. You're important."
Sookie
"Why?" Sookie asked quietly. She still hadn't reacted. This was just yet another piece of information on top of the bomb. Of course it couldn't be as easy as her just being a fairy. No, no.
Niall
"When I was young," Niall said, meeting her eyes, "I fell in love with a human woman. "Her name was Einin. She thought I was an angel.” He was silent for a moment. "She was delicious," he said. "She was lively, and happy, and simple. I was young enough to be infatuated, young enough to be able to ignore the inevitable end of our connection as she aged and I did not. But Einin got pregnant, which was a shock. Fairies and humans don’t crossbreed often. Einin gave birth to twins, which is quite common among the fae. Einin and both boys lived through the birthing, which in those times was far from certain. She called our older son Fintan. The second was Dermot."
Sookie
Sookie found herself wondering if Niall thought she was like Einin: simple. She certainly didn't feel simple. She suddenly felt very, very complicated.
The waiter brought their wine, not even carding Sookie, and she was jerked out of the spell Niall’s voice had laid on her. She automatically lifted her glass and took a sip of wine. She felt she was entitled.
But she nodded, a tacit request to go on.
Niall
And then he made it clear and painful all at once.
"Fintan the Half Fairy was your paternal grandfather, Sookie," Niall said.
Sookie
"No," Sookie said immediately, needing to know the correct answer to something tonight. "No, I know who my grandfather was."
Something was itching the back of her mind. Something Gran had said, when she'd visited. When you find out, try to understand.
"My grandfather was Mitchell Stackhouse and he married Adele Hale. My father was Corbett Hale Stackhouse, and he and my mom died in a flash flood when I was a little girl. Then I was raised by my grandmother Adele."
She was babbling, but her family was like a puzzle that had been pushed off a table, now. There were pieces, but they were on the floor, and she didn't know how they fit anymore.
Niall
"What," Niall asked simply, "was your grandmother like?"
Sookie
"She raised me when she didn’t have to,” Sookie said. "She took me and Jason into her home, and she worked hard to raise us right. We learned everything from her. She loved us. She had two children herself and buried them both, and that must have about killed her, but still she was strong for us."
Niall
"She was beautiful when she was young," Niall said, his eyes skating over her face as though trying to find a trace of her beauty in her granddaughter.
Sookie
"I guess," Sookie said dubiously. She'd never really thought of Gran in terms of beauty.
Niall
"I saw her after Fintan made her pregnant," Niall said. "She was lovely. Her husband had told her he could not give her children. He’d had mumps at the wrong time. That’s a disease, isn’t it? She met Fintan one day when she was beating a rug out on the clothesline, in back of the house where you now live. He asked her for a drink of water. He was smitten on the spot. She wanted children so badly, and he promised her he could give them to her."
Sookie
"You said fairies and people weren’t usually fertile when they crossbreed," Sookie pointed out, just wanting to be a little less lost in this.
Niall
"But Fintan was only half fairy. And he already knew that he was able to give a woman a child." Niall’s mouth quirked. "The first woman he loved died in childbirth, but your grandmother and her son were more fortunate, and then two years later she was able to carry Fintan’s daughter to completion."
Sookie
"He raped her," Sookie said softly, wishing it wasn't the case, but suspecting it might be. Gran had been the most upstanding, moral person she'd ever known. She couldn’t picture her cheating anyone out of anything, particularly since she’d promised in front of God to be faithful to Sookie's grandfather.
Niall
"No, he did not. She wanted children, though she didn’t want to be unfaithful to her husband. Fintan didn’t care about the feelings of others, and he wanted her desperately," Niall said. "But he was never violent. He would not have raped her. However, my son could talk a woman into anything, even into something against her moral judgment.... And if she was very beautiful, so was he."
He was quiet for a moment, looking across the table at her. "What was your father like, my grandson?"
Sookie
"He was a handsome guy," Sookie shrugged. "He was a hard worker. He was a good dad."
Niall
Niall smiled slightly. "How did your mother feel about him?"
Sookie
"She, um...she was really devoted to him." Maybe at the expense of her children, but that wasn't something Sookie ever said aloud. She'd barely even mentioned it to her best friends, or to Bobby.
Niall
"She was obsessed?" Niall’s voice was not judgmental but certain, as if he knew her answer.
Sookie
"Real possessive," Sookie admitted. "Though I was only seven when they died, even I could see that. I guess I thought it was normal. She really wanted to give him all her attention. Sometimes Jason and I were in the way. And she was really jealous, I remember."
Niall
"It was the fairy in him that made her hold on so strongly," Niall said. "It takes some humans that way. She saw the supernatural in him, and it enthralled her. Tell me, was she a good mother?"
Sookie
And once again, Sookie was grateful for Bobby, if yet another thing about her would be too much for a human.
Bless Fandom, really.
Niall's question stung, in a way. She wanted to defend her mother, but in the end, she was just honest. "She tried hard," she whispered.
The waiter brought their salads, and Sookie put her napkin in her lap and sat there holding the fork. She should take a bite. Wasting was not part of the way she'd been raised. By her grandmother. Who’d had sex with a half fairy (who’d wandered into the yard like a stray dog). Enough sex over enough time to produce two children.
"Why did you decide now to come meet me?" she asked. "How long have you known about me?"
Niall
"I’ve known about your family for the past sixty years, give or take. But my son Fintan forbade me seeing any of you." He carefully put a bit of tomato into his mouth, held it there, thought about it, chewed it. He ate the way Sookie would if she were visiting an Indian or Nicaraguan restaurant.
Sookie
She was going to ask what had changed, but for once, she figured it out. "Is he dead now?"
Niall
"Yes," he said, and put down the fork. "Fintan is dead. After all, he was half human. And he’d lived for seven hundred years."
Sookie
Was she supposed to have an opinion about this? Sookie felt so numb, as though Niall had shot Novocain into her emotional center. She probably should have asked how he -- how her grandfather -- had come to die, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
"So you decided to come tell me about this-why?" She was proud of how calm she sounded.
Niall
"I’m old, even for my kind. I would like to know you. I can’t atone for the way your life has been shaped by the heritage Fintan gave you. But I will try to make your life a little easier, if you’ll permit me."
Sookie
"Can you take my telepathy away?" Sookie asked, a wild hope -- mixed with fear -- flaring up.
Niall
"You are asking if I can remove something from the fiber of your being," Niall said. "No, I can’t do that."
Sookie
Sookie slumped in her chair. "Thought I’d ask," she said, fighting away tears suddenly. "Do I get three wishes, or is that with genies?"
Niall
Niall regarded her with no humor at all. "You wouldn’t want to meet a genie," he said. "And I’m not a figure of fun. I am a prince."
Sookie
"Sorry," Sookie said softly, playing with her fork for a moment before looking up. "Prince? Is that -- that's why I'm important. What you said before, I mean."
Niall
"You are the last of my line," Niall said, with a slight nod. "Yes, Sookie. You're considered a princess, amongst our last few people. We're a line of fairies associated with the sky and sun, so you may have noticed an affiliation for both."
Sookie
And that was just amazing. Just rich.
Fairy princess. Her friends were not going to believe this. Her tanning proved she was a princess of the damn sky.
"Did you send me there?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "When I was hurt?"
Niall
Niall nodded. "You met Claudine. She will be watching you. I've entrusted your safety to her, when I cannot be there. She's already saved you a few times."
Sookie
Sookie wondered when else Claudine had interfered, though she supposed that she was the one to thank for her hands, and the way she sometimes seemed so lucky. "Are you all beautiful?" she asked, smiling a little. "It was so warm and lovely there."
Niall
"Dear one," Niall said, "we are all beautiful to humans; but some fairies are very nasty indeed. You stayed hidden for a long time, in part because that was what Fintan wanted. My son was remorseful that he’d condemned two children to the half-in, half-out existence he’d experienced as a fairy who wasn’t truly a fairy. I’m afraid the others of our race weren’t kind to him."
His gaze was steady. "I did my best to defend him, but it wasn’t enough. Fintan also found he wasn’t human enough to pass as human, at least not for more than a short time."
Sookie
"You don’t look like this normally?" Sookie asked, very curious.
Niall
"No." And just for a split second, there was an almost blinding light, with Niall in the middle of it, beautiful and perfect. No wonder Einin had thought he was an angel.
"But enough about this," Niall said. "I want to know about you. My son kept me from your father and your aunt, and then from their children. His death came too late for me to know your cousin Hadley. But now I can see you and touch you."
Sookie
Sookie looked down, shy. "I'm not very interesting. I mean, I suppose I am, but just because of what you've told me. I go to school on an island near Maryland. I have friends. My boyfriend's sitting over at that table with Eric."
Niall
Fintan's gaze flicked over to Bobby for a split second before resting on Sookie again. "He's neither fae nor human," he observed simply.
Sookie
"Sure isn't," Sookie agreed just as simply. Though, the mention of Eric did make her think for a moment. "Why did you approach me through Eric?"
Niall
"I have known Eric Northman for a long time. I thought you would come if he asked you to. Did I do wrong?" he asked, studying her.
Sookie
"No," Sookie said, shaking her head with a little smile. "No, it's just...complicated."
Niall
"Do you want me to kill him?" Niall asked, as though wondering whether Sookie would like the bread passed to her.
Sookie
"No!" Sookie was really getting tired of people threatening to kill Eric for her. "No, that's okay." A thought occurred to her, though, and she frowned slightly. "What about Jason? I mean, are you going to meet with him, too?"
Niall
"Jason," he said, his face showing distaste. "Somehow the essential spark passed Jason by. I know he is made of the same material as you, but in him the blood has only shown itself in his ability to attract lovers, which after all is not much recommendation. He wouldn’t understand or appreciate our connection."
Sookie
Great-grandfather sounded pretty snotty when he said that. She started to say something in Jason’s defense, but then closed her mouth. Sookie had to admit that Niall was almost certainly right. Jason would be full of demands, and he would talk.
"How often are you going to be around?" she said instead, striving hard to sound nonchalant.
Niall
"I'll try to visit you the way any other relative would," he answered. He handed her a business card, which said simply, 'Niall Brigant,' with a telephone number centered beneath. "You can reach me at that number any time. Someone will answer."
Sookie
"Thanks," she said. "I guess you know my phone number?" He nodded. She'd guessed with the business card that he was ready to leave, but he lingered.
But she found she couldn't, honestly. It was too much. "Thank you," she said quietly, tucking the card away. "For meeting with me. This is -- it's an excellent Christmas present."
Niall
"I am so glad to know you, finally, Sookie. And to answer your questions." He smiled, faintly. "I know you've had them."
Sookie
She nodded, slightly, and awkwardly started to reach for her purse. "I should get home. We have company coming down tomorrow, and -- it was wonderful to meet you. Maybe you could come for Christmas?"
Niall
"I'm not sure I could take meeting all of your friends at once," he said, shaking his head. He glanced past her once more, and added, "The young man seems capable." It wasn't a judgment, or a critique, or even a question. It was, strangely, just a comment. And at the same time, Sookie sort of felt that there was more to it.
Sookie
"He is," Sookie said after a moment, studying him and wondering what that meant. 'Capable' was an odd compliment.
Niall
Niall paused, and carefully said, "Child, you have powerful friends. And you are more gifted than you know. But I have powerful enemies, and I wouldn’t want them to think of harming you to get at me. Be cautious. And enjoy your holiday."
Sookie
That was a dismissal if she'd ever heard one. In a moment of impulsiveness, she bent her head down, and pressed her lips to his cheek. "Goodbye, Great-Grandfather."
She wouldn't think about the enemies part. She was just glad to have family.
Eric
Eric was looking quite pleased with himself as he swirled a glass of TruBlood in his hand and flirted a bit with the waitress.
Not that he cared what Sookie thought of him. Truly.
Bobby
"You're looking smugger than usual," Bobby commented.
Eric
"I just love the holidays," Eric said. "Ho, ho, ho and so on."
Eric
He smirked. "I'd look fabulous in the tight pants."
Bobby
"...Don't remind me," Bobby made a face. He'd seen Eric in leather pants, remember. Didn't mean he wanted the reminder, though.
Eric
"It's okay to be jealous," Eric told him oh-so-sincerely. "I've had a thousand years to work at looking this good."
[NFB, NFI, OOC is dandy! Preplayed with momslilassassin and longislandiceme, and cribbed from From Dead to Worse.]
Her eyes scanned over the restaurant as they entered. It was a lot nicer than what she was ever used to, and she could feel not only her nervousness, but Bobby's in the back of her mind, coursing through the bond.
It started to allay as her eyes adjusted to the interior of the restaurant, and she watched the candles flickering on the tables, which were covered with snowy white cloths and elaborately folded napkins.
When the hostess led them to a table, Sookie's eyes came to rest on an older, elegant man seated before them.
The hostess spun on her high heel, touched the back of the chair to the man’s right to indicate Sookie should sit there, and told them their server would be with them. The man rose to pull out her chair and hold it for her. Sookie glanced back at Eric and Bobby before she sat. They didn't follow suit, and she couldn't quite hear the instructions Eric was murmuring to Bobby.
The man seated with her, though, was staring at her intently. He was thin and fairly pale, with long, fine, blond hair.
There was something strange and familiar about the man -- he was lovely and ethereal, but comforting, somehow, and while Sookie could still feel the bond, she found her focus resting on the man, and less on her boyfriend and the vampire who'd brought them there, as Eric and Bobby took seats at a nearby table.
Niall
"Child," he said quietly, looking over at her to get her attention, before gingerly pushing back his long, golden hair.
His ears were pointed.
Sookie
Sookie didn't want to stare, but she couldn't help it. She didn't know that there were people with pointed ears in her world. Or that they'd want to speak with her.
Although. There was something very, very familiar about him, though she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Wow," she breathed softly, which seemed to be all he wanted -- recognition that she saw, and understood he was not human.
Niall
"My name," he said, his voice light, sexless, resonant, "is Niall Brigant." He reached out to rest a hand on top of hers, light and cool. "Mr. Northman wanted me to speak to you this evening."
Sookie
Sookie gave him a slightly nervous little smile. She couldn't help the question that spilled out of her mouth next, because it wasn't meant to be rude. She could just tell he was important -- both in a general way, as well as important to her.
This man had answers. She could feel it.
"Who are you?"
Niall
"I’m your great-grandfather," Niall Brigant said.
Sookie
"Oh shit," Sookie gasped, and immediately covered her mouth with a hand. This was way, way more than she'd anticipated -- maybe more than she'd wanted, but she wasn't sure. "Sorry, I just -- great-grandpa?"
She was trying out the concept.
Niall
Niall's response was to wince delicately. On a human man, it might have looked effeminate. Somehow, it didn't on him.
Sookie
"Please explain," Sookie managed politely, as the waiter came to inquire after their drink orders and recite the specials of the day. Niall ordered a bottle of wine and told him they would have the salmon without consulting Sookie. High-handed.
Niall
"I'll tell you all about it," Niall said. Very slowly, telegraphing his intention, he leaned over to kiss Sookie's cheek. His mouth and eyes crinkled as his facial muscles moved to frame the kiss. The fine cobweb of wrinkles did not in any way detract from his beauty; he was like very old silk or a crackled painting by an ancient master.
"When I was still young, perhaps five or six hundred years ago, I used to wander among the humans," Niall said. "And every now and then, as a male will, I'd see a human woman I found appealing."
Sookie
"Wait," Sookie said, holding up a hand. This was a lot. "Five or six hundred years? Are you -- you're not a vampire."
She had noticed something odd as Niall spoke. No one in the room, save Eric and Bobby and their waiter, was paying any attention to them. No one was looking at them, and Sookie couldn't find a trace of them in anyone's thoughts, either.
Niall
Niall's lovely face registered the tiniest trace of surprise. "No. I am not. You don't know? No one's told you what you are?"
Sookie
"No," Sookie said, clearly frustrated. "No, they keep refusing to tell me. I don't know, and that's all I want."
Niall
Niall studied her for a moment before quietly offering. "Child, you're a fairy."
Sookie
She just stared at him, completely not registering what he'd said, for a long moment. The words hung in the air as she tried to wrap her mind around them.
"A what?" she finally asked, softly. "A fairy?"
In her head, she was thinking that, honestly, after all this buildup? It was kind of fucking lame.
Niall
Niall nodded. "I understand you visited our world recently."
Sookie
"That's where I was? Fairyland?" Sookie asked, ignoring the way her heart was pounding. "That's why they knew me. They know you."
Niall
He gave a slight nod, smiling faintly. "They've been watching for you. You're important."
Sookie
"Why?" Sookie asked quietly. She still hadn't reacted. This was just yet another piece of information on top of the bomb. Of course it couldn't be as easy as her just being a fairy. No, no.
Niall
"When I was young," Niall said, meeting her eyes, "I fell in love with a human woman. "Her name was Einin. She thought I was an angel.” He was silent for a moment. "She was delicious," he said. "She was lively, and happy, and simple. I was young enough to be infatuated, young enough to be able to ignore the inevitable end of our connection as she aged and I did not. But Einin got pregnant, which was a shock. Fairies and humans don’t crossbreed often. Einin gave birth to twins, which is quite common among the fae. Einin and both boys lived through the birthing, which in those times was far from certain. She called our older son Fintan. The second was Dermot."
Sookie
Sookie found herself wondering if Niall thought she was like Einin: simple. She certainly didn't feel simple. She suddenly felt very, very complicated.
The waiter brought their wine, not even carding Sookie, and she was jerked out of the spell Niall’s voice had laid on her. She automatically lifted her glass and took a sip of wine. She felt she was entitled.
But she nodded, a tacit request to go on.
Niall
And then he made it clear and painful all at once.
"Fintan the Half Fairy was your paternal grandfather, Sookie," Niall said.
Sookie
"No," Sookie said immediately, needing to know the correct answer to something tonight. "No, I know who my grandfather was."
Something was itching the back of her mind. Something Gran had said, when she'd visited. When you find out, try to understand.
"My grandfather was Mitchell Stackhouse and he married Adele Hale. My father was Corbett Hale Stackhouse, and he and my mom died in a flash flood when I was a little girl. Then I was raised by my grandmother Adele."
She was babbling, but her family was like a puzzle that had been pushed off a table, now. There were pieces, but they were on the floor, and she didn't know how they fit anymore.
Niall
"What," Niall asked simply, "was your grandmother like?"
Sookie
"She raised me when she didn’t have to,” Sookie said. "She took me and Jason into her home, and she worked hard to raise us right. We learned everything from her. She loved us. She had two children herself and buried them both, and that must have about killed her, but still she was strong for us."
Niall
"She was beautiful when she was young," Niall said, his eyes skating over her face as though trying to find a trace of her beauty in her granddaughter.
Sookie
"I guess," Sookie said dubiously. She'd never really thought of Gran in terms of beauty.
Niall
"I saw her after Fintan made her pregnant," Niall said. "She was lovely. Her husband had told her he could not give her children. He’d had mumps at the wrong time. That’s a disease, isn’t it? She met Fintan one day when she was beating a rug out on the clothesline, in back of the house where you now live. He asked her for a drink of water. He was smitten on the spot. She wanted children so badly, and he promised her he could give them to her."
Sookie
"You said fairies and people weren’t usually fertile when they crossbreed," Sookie pointed out, just wanting to be a little less lost in this.
Niall
"But Fintan was only half fairy. And he already knew that he was able to give a woman a child." Niall’s mouth quirked. "The first woman he loved died in childbirth, but your grandmother and her son were more fortunate, and then two years later she was able to carry Fintan’s daughter to completion."
Sookie
"He raped her," Sookie said softly, wishing it wasn't the case, but suspecting it might be. Gran had been the most upstanding, moral person she'd ever known. She couldn’t picture her cheating anyone out of anything, particularly since she’d promised in front of God to be faithful to Sookie's grandfather.
Niall
"No, he did not. She wanted children, though she didn’t want to be unfaithful to her husband. Fintan didn’t care about the feelings of others, and he wanted her desperately," Niall said. "But he was never violent. He would not have raped her. However, my son could talk a woman into anything, even into something against her moral judgment.... And if she was very beautiful, so was he."
He was quiet for a moment, looking across the table at her. "What was your father like, my grandson?"
Sookie
"He was a handsome guy," Sookie shrugged. "He was a hard worker. He was a good dad."
Niall
Niall smiled slightly. "How did your mother feel about him?"
Sookie
"She, um...she was really devoted to him." Maybe at the expense of her children, but that wasn't something Sookie ever said aloud. She'd barely even mentioned it to her best friends, or to Bobby.
Niall
"She was obsessed?" Niall’s voice was not judgmental but certain, as if he knew her answer.
Sookie
"Real possessive," Sookie admitted. "Though I was only seven when they died, even I could see that. I guess I thought it was normal. She really wanted to give him all her attention. Sometimes Jason and I were in the way. And she was really jealous, I remember."
Niall
"It was the fairy in him that made her hold on so strongly," Niall said. "It takes some humans that way. She saw the supernatural in him, and it enthralled her. Tell me, was she a good mother?"
Sookie
And once again, Sookie was grateful for Bobby, if yet another thing about her would be too much for a human.
Bless Fandom, really.
Niall's question stung, in a way. She wanted to defend her mother, but in the end, she was just honest. "She tried hard," she whispered.
The waiter brought their salads, and Sookie put her napkin in her lap and sat there holding the fork. She should take a bite. Wasting was not part of the way she'd been raised. By her grandmother. Who’d had sex with a half fairy (who’d wandered into the yard like a stray dog). Enough sex over enough time to produce two children.
"Why did you decide now to come meet me?" she asked. "How long have you known about me?"
Niall
"I’ve known about your family for the past sixty years, give or take. But my son Fintan forbade me seeing any of you." He carefully put a bit of tomato into his mouth, held it there, thought about it, chewed it. He ate the way Sookie would if she were visiting an Indian or Nicaraguan restaurant.
Sookie
She was going to ask what had changed, but for once, she figured it out. "Is he dead now?"
Niall
"Yes," he said, and put down the fork. "Fintan is dead. After all, he was half human. And he’d lived for seven hundred years."
Sookie
Was she supposed to have an opinion about this? Sookie felt so numb, as though Niall had shot Novocain into her emotional center. She probably should have asked how he -- how her grandfather -- had come to die, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
"So you decided to come tell me about this-why?" She was proud of how calm she sounded.
Niall
"I’m old, even for my kind. I would like to know you. I can’t atone for the way your life has been shaped by the heritage Fintan gave you. But I will try to make your life a little easier, if you’ll permit me."
Sookie
"Can you take my telepathy away?" Sookie asked, a wild hope -- mixed with fear -- flaring up.
Niall
"You are asking if I can remove something from the fiber of your being," Niall said. "No, I can’t do that."
Sookie
Sookie slumped in her chair. "Thought I’d ask," she said, fighting away tears suddenly. "Do I get three wishes, or is that with genies?"
Niall
Niall regarded her with no humor at all. "You wouldn’t want to meet a genie," he said. "And I’m not a figure of fun. I am a prince."
Sookie
"Sorry," Sookie said softly, playing with her fork for a moment before looking up. "Prince? Is that -- that's why I'm important. What you said before, I mean."
Niall
"You are the last of my line," Niall said, with a slight nod. "Yes, Sookie. You're considered a princess, amongst our last few people. We're a line of fairies associated with the sky and sun, so you may have noticed an affiliation for both."
Sookie
And that was just amazing. Just rich.
Fairy princess. Her friends were not going to believe this. Her tanning proved she was a princess of the damn sky.
"Did you send me there?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "When I was hurt?"
Niall
Niall nodded. "You met Claudine. She will be watching you. I've entrusted your safety to her, when I cannot be there. She's already saved you a few times."
Sookie
Sookie wondered when else Claudine had interfered, though she supposed that she was the one to thank for her hands, and the way she sometimes seemed so lucky. "Are you all beautiful?" she asked, smiling a little. "It was so warm and lovely there."
Niall
"Dear one," Niall said, "we are all beautiful to humans; but some fairies are very nasty indeed. You stayed hidden for a long time, in part because that was what Fintan wanted. My son was remorseful that he’d condemned two children to the half-in, half-out existence he’d experienced as a fairy who wasn’t truly a fairy. I’m afraid the others of our race weren’t kind to him."
His gaze was steady. "I did my best to defend him, but it wasn’t enough. Fintan also found he wasn’t human enough to pass as human, at least not for more than a short time."
Sookie
"You don’t look like this normally?" Sookie asked, very curious.
Niall
"No." And just for a split second, there was an almost blinding light, with Niall in the middle of it, beautiful and perfect. No wonder Einin had thought he was an angel.
"But enough about this," Niall said. "I want to know about you. My son kept me from your father and your aunt, and then from their children. His death came too late for me to know your cousin Hadley. But now I can see you and touch you."
Sookie
Sookie looked down, shy. "I'm not very interesting. I mean, I suppose I am, but just because of what you've told me. I go to school on an island near Maryland. I have friends. My boyfriend's sitting over at that table with Eric."
Niall
Fintan's gaze flicked over to Bobby for a split second before resting on Sookie again. "He's neither fae nor human," he observed simply.
Sookie
"Sure isn't," Sookie agreed just as simply. Though, the mention of Eric did make her think for a moment. "Why did you approach me through Eric?"
Niall
"I have known Eric Northman for a long time. I thought you would come if he asked you to. Did I do wrong?" he asked, studying her.
Sookie
"No," Sookie said, shaking her head with a little smile. "No, it's just...complicated."
Niall
"Do you want me to kill him?" Niall asked, as though wondering whether Sookie would like the bread passed to her.
Sookie
"No!" Sookie was really getting tired of people threatening to kill Eric for her. "No, that's okay." A thought occurred to her, though, and she frowned slightly. "What about Jason? I mean, are you going to meet with him, too?"
Niall
"Jason," he said, his face showing distaste. "Somehow the essential spark passed Jason by. I know he is made of the same material as you, but in him the blood has only shown itself in his ability to attract lovers, which after all is not much recommendation. He wouldn’t understand or appreciate our connection."
Sookie
Great-grandfather sounded pretty snotty when he said that. She started to say something in Jason’s defense, but then closed her mouth. Sookie had to admit that Niall was almost certainly right. Jason would be full of demands, and he would talk.
"How often are you going to be around?" she said instead, striving hard to sound nonchalant.
Niall
"I'll try to visit you the way any other relative would," he answered. He handed her a business card, which said simply, 'Niall Brigant,' with a telephone number centered beneath. "You can reach me at that number any time. Someone will answer."
Sookie
"Thanks," she said. "I guess you know my phone number?" He nodded. She'd guessed with the business card that he was ready to leave, but he lingered.
But she found she couldn't, honestly. It was too much. "Thank you," she said quietly, tucking the card away. "For meeting with me. This is -- it's an excellent Christmas present."
Niall
"I am so glad to know you, finally, Sookie. And to answer your questions." He smiled, faintly. "I know you've had them."
Sookie
She nodded, slightly, and awkwardly started to reach for her purse. "I should get home. We have company coming down tomorrow, and -- it was wonderful to meet you. Maybe you could come for Christmas?"
Niall
"I'm not sure I could take meeting all of your friends at once," he said, shaking his head. He glanced past her once more, and added, "The young man seems capable." It wasn't a judgment, or a critique, or even a question. It was, strangely, just a comment. And at the same time, Sookie sort of felt that there was more to it.
Sookie
"He is," Sookie said after a moment, studying him and wondering what that meant. 'Capable' was an odd compliment.
Niall
Niall paused, and carefully said, "Child, you have powerful friends. And you are more gifted than you know. But I have powerful enemies, and I wouldn’t want them to think of harming you to get at me. Be cautious. And enjoy your holiday."
Sookie
That was a dismissal if she'd ever heard one. In a moment of impulsiveness, she bent her head down, and pressed her lips to his cheek. "Goodbye, Great-Grandfather."
She wouldn't think about the enemies part. She was just glad to have family.
Eric
Eric was looking quite pleased with himself as he swirled a glass of TruBlood in his hand and flirted a bit with the waitress.
Not that he cared what Sookie thought of him. Truly.
Bobby
"You're looking smugger than usual," Bobby commented.
Eric
"I just love the holidays," Eric said. "Ho, ho, ho and so on."
Eric
He smirked. "I'd look fabulous in the tight pants."
Bobby
"...Don't remind me," Bobby made a face. He'd seen Eric in leather pants, remember. Didn't mean he wanted the reminder, though.
Eric
"It's okay to be jealous," Eric told him oh-so-sincerely. "I've had a thousand years to work at looking this good."
[NFB, NFI, OOC is dandy! Preplayed with momslilassassin and longislandiceme, and cribbed from From Dead to Worse.]